Tell me about how/why you quit social media

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All y’all realize dcum is social media right? I also don’t use the big 3 but my addiction here is real.

+1 I quit facebook years ago, never go on twitter anymore but can't bring myself to delete it because I have an elusive blue check, and I've removed instagram from my phone. But this place? I'm here all day.

[Anonymous]

I work in marketing, so I can’t avoid social media and need to be aware of different channels, trends, capabilities, etc. But even so, I limit my personal intake at times. Like now, with the madness of the current administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never had a single social media account. I guess I don't know what I am missing. I am 50 with 2 college kids, social life, close family.

Same here. I’m 48 and no social media accounts either. Very happy without it.

I’m 50. Never had a Facebook account.

I joined Instagram so my dad could follow us when we were overseas since texting photos was expensive.

[Anonymous]

I used to be on Facebook but realized I was checking it daily but not really enjoying it, so I took a couple hiatuses. During the second hiatus, I realized not only did I not miss it at all, but I was kind of dreading going back on. So instead I just deleted my account. It felt great.

I still use Instagram very occasionally and I love Twitter, but my experience with Facebook taught me that I don't actually need any of it. I'll take long breaks from Twitter when I start to get annoyed with it, and only log back on again when it feels fun again. I have actually made real friends on Twitter, plus I get a lot out of the people in my field that I follow -- I've learned about opportunities and gotten some amazing advice. I try to avoid the political stuff, not because I'm apolitical (the opposite actually), but because I just don't think it's a great venue for talking politics. The political conversations are always an echo chamber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All y’all realize dcum is social media right? I also don’t use the big 3 but my addiction here is real.

Yes. I recognize your posts by “y’all” across many different forums.

[Anonymous]

I quit because I was taking the bait and getting into stupid fights with strangers in groups. It wasn’t worth the time.

Best decision I ever made.

[Anonymous]

I deleted fb 6 years ago. I’ve been happier without it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All y’all realize dcum is social media right? I also don’t use the big 3 but my addiction here is real.

No, DCUM isn’t social media. It’s an Internet forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All y’all realize dcum is social media right? I also don’t use the big 3 but my addiction here is real.

No, DCUM isn’t social media. It’s an Internet forum.

Agreed. It also has none of the privacy concerns of any of the social media networks. No one at DCUM is tracking your internet activity in order to sell the information to questionable third parties.

[Anonymous]

I still have a FB account but don't remember the last time I posted there. 3 years ago, maybe? Never had an Intstagram or Twitter. So this is, pretty much, my only vice.
I don't miss FB one bit. It was such a cesspool of people's insecurities, competitiveness and inner emptiness. No, thanks.

[Anonymous]

DH quit FB because his family (siblings/parents/etc) are all right wing conspiracy theorists and he couldn't deal with seeing all that crap...and it was really tainting his view of them. They live far away and when we are all in person, no one talks politics (we are seen as the crazy east coaster leftists, I am sure.)

[Anonymous]

DH and I deleted everything on the way home from our honeymoon in 2015. It was enough time that friends had posted any wedding photos they were going to, so we can turn it back on and peek at those if we ever want to. We also moved to a new state when we got back and started over very cleanly. We each keep in touch with a few HS/college friends and are close to both of our families, but it’s nice not having any of that other noise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I quit Facebook a couple of years ago after it became clear the company was not at all concerned about the extremism and disinformation it was promoting. Deactivated and deleted and haven't looked back. I don't get to see updates from people I wouldn't otherwise be in touch with but I don't miss that. If anything it's allowed me to focus on myself and my own happiness, not keeping up any particular lifestyle or appearances.

I quit almost 3 years ago for the same reason. Zuckerberg is a terrible person and Facebook is a terrible company that is actively undermining our democratic processes. I quit in January 2018 and never looked back. I read somewhere that it's worse for FB's stats if you're an inactive rather than a deactivated customer (no idea if that's really true), so I left my profile up but haven't been back. Honestly, after a couple of weeks I didn't miss it at all. I do miss the regular contact with a couple of people, but c'est la vie.

I also do not belong to Instagram, which I actually do regret some because there are some artists/ designers whom I'd like to follow, but so far I've held firm. Zuckerberg can go f*@$ himself.

[Anonymous]

Facebook is the worst one. If you are going to quit one, that’s the one. Everything about it is engineered to make you feel just bad enough, and to then provide you with a hit of dopamine to make you feel a tiny bit better. It makes everything bad about society worse, and it takes everything good about society and flattens it out to make it all the same and therefore worse.

It’s actively killing journalism. Facebook policies have led directly to thousands of journalists being laid off as news sources rearranged their business to serve Facebook’s distribution model. Only for Facebook to change it again without warning, AND to reveal that they had not been totally honest about how people were viewing content on the platform in the past.

And yes— it leads directly to the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories. It’s making the old people in your life dumber and more paranoid. It facilitates cyber bullying. It serves the interests of oppressive political needs, not democracy. And the people who run it know exactly how powerful they are and make choices designed to preserve that power and their money.

Also, it’s tracking everything you do, and not just on Facebook. Your Facebook cookies tracked you to this site, for instance. They know more about your real interests (not your stated interests), your family dysfunction, your health, and your spending habits then anyone else in your life. And they will use that info to mine you for parts.

Quit Facebook.

[Anonymous]

I didn't feel there was enough discussion of politics on FB so got bored.